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I had many opertunities to go and see the 2d version of up and even one which was free but I turned it down. You see before UP had even come out I had already had my first RealD experience(toy Story) and had seen the future of cinema and from there, there was now going back. 3D is the perfect medium for kids movies because it gives you so much more of an experience and makes kids have to concentrate to know what is going on. Having said that, UP is not a kids movie.
Sure is it suitable for children but so are alot of things that you wouldn't necessarily bring them to see. UP had layers and saddness that I don't think children can understand. The characters ahve motivation and hidden emotions that are not splashed all over the screen in techicolour. It is a movie for grown-ups with an adult sensibility. Mostly though it is just a really baeutiful movie.
This scene with the balloons reminded me of that sony bravo add( I think that is what it is called) the one with all the balls bouncing down the street. I loved that add, all that colour is amazing and this movie has that too. If you never heard a word of dialogue or know what was going on at all you could still really enjoy the movie just by looking at it. There are very few movies that you can say that about.( well possibly transformers but that is more a case of you would be better off not having the dialogue, it didn't add anything).
I don't think I am going to say anything about the story of UP because you are much better going in there not knowing anything and taking it in as it happens. This has actually been one of those movie where I have been able to do that and it improved the experience so much. I mean I knew that there was going to be a floating house but I didn't know how you got there or why and it meant I wasn't expecting anything. That is a good thing. There is so much hype about movies now that it is rare enough that you go into a movie not know almost the whole plotline. The fact that you are reading this just goes to show that you don't want to be surprised. You want to know what you expect. Expect nothing, enjoy throughly.
I have to be honest and say that two things coloured my viewing of this movie. One of them was a small child sitting on my head, actually he was sitting on the back of my seat but his feet were on my head and his mother didn't seem to mind very much. The other thing was the fact that I hate George Clooney. This is not one of those rational things where I met him once and he wasn't nice to me, it is not even one of those rational things where I don't think he is a very good actor. It is in fact a very irrational and unexplainable thing but I just don't like the guy. IN some ways I think maybe it is just because everyone else does but there are other popular actors that I don't have such a hatred for so i is probably not that. I don't even think it is something he has done I just don't like him and that was the baggage I was taking with me to see a movie staring him, my mortal enemy.
I didn't actually hate it. It was of course a timeless story By Roald Dahl who will never go out of fashion and I will grudgingly say that it was done very well. The animation was spectacular it would actually remind you of the original Quentin Blake illustrations which I have always loved. The characters are excellent, really witty and entertaining which is what you want from a movie. Also in all cases apart from Mr Fox himself they were played to perfection, it is hard to imagine a stop-motion characters having so many levels but it is achieved in this movie. The animals have personalities and human traits that some human actors are lacking. It is a very well put together piece of work all the elements just gel to make it a really enjoyable movie.
Having said that I didn't enjoy it that much. I am happy enough to out that down to circumstance but I didn't really. I will also say that this isn't really one for the kids. I think that is why there was one climbing on my head, he was bored. It is beautiful put together and funny in all sorts of subtle ways but kids don't really care about that stuff, they want bright colours and flashing images which this is lacking, I hear up is good if you want a family movie
The only reviews I had of this movie before actually seeing it were my friends telling me that it was weird. That was the long and short of it, most of them didn't even tell me whether they liked it or not just that it was weird. Actually they were right, it is weird but I like weird and and it is definitely a good thing here. It is a movie ab out a show which is put on to tell the story of the universe but that is not really what it is about. It is a tale of good versus evil and about the flaws of humans and the goodness too and it manages that without being too cheesy which is a feat in itself.
Most people are going to go to see this movie because it was the last thing Heath ledger did and I suppose that is a good a reason as any but another one is that this is Terry Gilliam's return to form. It is a visually stunning movie . A lot of it is in cg which can often be to a movie detriment but that is not the case with this. The images are absolutely beautiful and transform the world of the movie by bringing you through the stark contrast between our world and the world of our imagination. That is where it gets strange but you don't really care because plot takes second place to what you are physically seeing on screen which pushes through the mundane to something much more special.
I cannot talk enough about that element of the movie because that is what makes it. There does exist a good plot and a compelling story line but even if these things did not hold up I will still say go and see it. As for the most talked about element of the movie, the Ledger replacements, I think it worked out very well. In fact i don't really know how it would have worked out without them. I mean it could have physically happened the same way but it wouldn't have been half as interesting. As a Johnny Depp fan I was slightly disappointed that he was only in the movie for about three minutes and basically says nothing but I have to say it was the most flawless transition. Depp has a very similar facial structure to Ledger so you almost don't notice when it changes and in fact I think they use Depp for a short scene that is supposed to be Ledger but that is just something I noticed I have nothing to back that up.
It is Colin Farrel who has the best part really(outside of the main cast) the most interesting anyway. I can't really say much about it without giving it away but he is the one who you will remember afterward.
Great movie go see it.
Adventureland is the story of James Brennan's (Jesse Eisenberg) summer of 87'. He is about to start grad. school in New York city but first he is going to head on the trip of a lifetime to Europe to see the sights. Then his dad loses his job. When that happens that money that was supposed to pay for the trip and accommodation when he got to NYC dries up and he is forced to get a job. The only place in town that will take him his the theme park Adventureland. That is when the summer begins.
If I am truly onset I only went to see Adventureland because there was nothing else on last night. I am glad I did though. It is not exactly that I didn't think it would be good, it was just that I thought it wouldn't be good enough for me to go to see in the cinema. It was on my 'get it out when it reaches DVD' list. This year that is a long list. I love going to the cinema but the fare has not been wonderful. I am looking forward to the beginning of the winter season but with trepidation
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September 30th 2009 10:49
Away we go is a movie about a couple, Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph), who decide to find a new place to settle after their home is disturbed by the moving away of the soon to be grandparents of their daughter. Burts parents are moving 3000 miles away from them and since that was the reason they had moved into the neighbourhood they decide it is time to move on. This journey takes them on a long trip around the people they know finding different balances in life and eventually discovering the ones that suit them best.
It is a simple movie about two peoples lives and their intersection with rthe rest of the world. It is a simple story with no real excitment or major events it is just about life as it happens. It is a very funny movie though and not in an obvious way. There are no jokes as such just occurances which are funny because you can very easily imagine them happening. Most of the comedy in fact comes from facial expressions and knowing looks and it is not just something small that makes you think in your head, oh that was funny, it is laugh out loud that has you spilling your popcorn all over the floor. (I would like to take this opertunity to apologise to the cleaning staff at my local cinema) Ok I lied it is not all totally natural, a litlle of it is a bit out there. For example the hippy cousins with the family bed. Still none of it is unimaginable, every action is something that you can picture happening and the reality makes it funny
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Julie & Julia is a movie about two women a generation apart who both find meaning I their love of cooking and both have a great desire to tell the world about it. It is a movie as much about finding a direction as it is about cooking, the two things are intertwined in the lives if these two ladies and it brings purpose to their lives. The movie flicks back and forth between the beginning of Julia Child's career as a cook and Julies mission to cook every recipe for Julia's book in a year. 365 days 528 recipes
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One thing and one thing alone put me off going to see Funny People and that one thing is my intense hatred for Adam Sandler. OK honestly I don't know the guy so it is not fair to say that he may not have some wonderful redeeming features that he is somehow keeping out of his acting but as an actor I can't stand him, and before you ask no I didn't even like The Wedding Singer
I don't like his brand of comedy and to be honest I think he takes the movie down with him. Having said that I went to see Funny People anyway. Some of my friends were going and it was better than having to see Final destination we can come up with any more ideas so we are making it 3D
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Diving Bell was one of those movies that I have been aware of for a long time and in that time I knew people kept telling me to watch it and I was taking this good advice and doing nothing with it. To be honest I didn't really know anything about it apart from the fact that it was in French. I am not the kind of person who won't watch a movie because it is in a foreign language and in fact some of my favourite movies are not in English but because people were telling me to watch it coupled with the fact that it was in French I thought it was going to be one of those arty movies that you pretend to like to the people who recommended them to you in fear of seeming stupid if you don't but really didn't get and when it comes down to it just didn't enjoy.
However, when I was finally placed in front of a TV to watch Diving Bell something completely different was going through my head. You see that was the moment that I found out that the movie was about locked in Syndrome. As the movie started I began to feel breathless as if by just watching a movie about this rare illness would allow it to take me over, The opening of the movie gives us a view from inside the eyes of a man who cannot move and does not yet know it. A fear went through me that I had never experience before. The thought of being locked inside you own head with no way of communicating to the outside world is the most terrifying thing I can think of
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The sum total of my knowledge of Gi Joe before I went to see this movie could be put down in very few words. I knew that it was a tv show made to sell toys like transformers, I knew that there was a cartoon movie where the bad-guys had a very funny theme tune and that there was some guy called Joe in it. The last piece of information turned out not to be true it actually stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity and they are an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The cast is made of of actors who you will spend ages on IMDB looking up afterwards to find out where you have seen them before. ( I will give you one Heavy Duty is Mr Echo from lost, I know he looks so different) They are a good cast for the movie because there is so little else to hold it up that the time you waste imdbing in your head will pass the time. It is not that any of them are bad mind you just that they don't have a lot to work with and there is more cheese pouring out of every crack then in a freshly made panini.
Everyone in the movie seemed to have a history with someone else. The only people who weren't connected, it seems, were the faceless goons manufactured to feel no pain but who still grunted and scremed when fighting. The action is littered with flash backs that send the characters off into the past of their mind and always require them to be brought back to the present by a helpful person standing near them. The flash backs are short enough and to the point but they only really serve to reinforce things that have come up in the movie in case you don't get what they are subtly hinting at.
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Comment by Rachael Murphy
on Thursday still.
Film Gorilla
Some Poetry by me.